Review

Review Date: 12-November-06
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Junk

Borat (2006)

Regarding the surprise success of Sacha Baron Cohen's "Borat," I find myself at a loss to understand (again) how Americans approach the concept of comedy. I'm baffled this time on two fronts: by those who think this movie is hilarious, and by those who think this movie is unusual. The latter reaction is particularly odd. Take Entertainment Weekly, whose cover for the week of October 20 shouted, "Has This Man Made The Funniest Movie Ever ... Or Simply The Most Outrageous, Offensive One?" while the inside article called the picture "totally original, perhaps even revolutionary." My response to this is, Huh? Fall's breakout comedy is primarily the same old thing, and therefore it's not that funny.

The movie, the full name of which is "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," is a mockumentary about a coarse Kazakh (Baron Cohen) who travels to the U.S.A. to absorb some of its customs and greatness. The potential of this setup resides in the chance to skewer American habits and values from the point of view of a comic outsider (which the star is himself, being British). However, most of the movie's so-called jokes involve such tried/tired things as poop, bigotry, horniness, inappropriate relations with animals, and men in proximity to other men's genitalia. (OK, the no-holes-barred naked wrestling scene is truly unusual and amusingly so.) In other words, it could take place almost anywhere and with almost any character in the spotlight. The satire is lamentably secondary and also lacks insight. You mean the people who enjoy rodeos could be homophobic and zealously patriotic? Frat boys are morons? Southerners don't like prostitutes coming uninvited to their homes? It's amazing what Borat uncovers.

I will say, though, that the movie became more interesting after I finished watching it, when I discovered that the rodeo attendees, frat boys, southerners, and others he meets are actual people who didn't fully understand why they were being filmed. (The actors are Ken Davitian, who plays Borat's producer, and Pamela Anderson, who offers herself as the object, and later victim, of his motivating desire.) Baron Cohen, whose reality-driven TV show I've obviously never seen, sold Borat as genuine and made himself obnoxious to folks who had some quality that appeared spoof-worthy. Can that make the picture revolutionary in this day and age? I think it makes it merely notable, and also cruel and occasionally terrifying (e.g., the frat boys). "Borat" consists of limp attempts to mock stereotypical Americans interspersed with scenes of run-of-the-mill crude humor. We've all been there and done that and I, for one, have never enjoyed it.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.